The Low Down

Weekend Review - Updates

It's been a great weekend here in Enid. The weather has been extremely cool and very fall-like, and we've had an extra dose of football (but it's never possble to have too much). First we spent the night Friday out at a high school homecoming game. Saturday we held our breath as the Irish came from behind to win again, and Sunday the NFL filled our Vizio as I watched the ticker to follow the Colts big win as close as I could from Oklahoma. (I really miss seeing every game on local tv).

I'm excited that my book "Green," has done extremely well in its first few days of generating some pre-release sales. Many of you have been extremely kind and you have checked out the new website www.thebookgreen.com, you have bought books, and you have left us some amazing comments and feedback. I'm excited to see in the next few weeks and months what is going to happen with the book and what doors are opened. We are currently working on book signing events and so forth, so please be in prayer with us concerning all of those details. Pray that the right bookstores will be open to having me come to their venue. Pray for the right bookstores to stock my book as well. It's tough as a new author to get a book stocked, so request the book in your local stores as well. 

This morning, we had an amazing time of worship at Central Assembly of God. This week, they will continue to pour the concrete in the parking lot of our new youth and family life center. They will also hang the light fixtures and wire in the power outlets and light switches. The HVAC guys will be wrapping up their part by connecting all of the duct work to the open air vents in the ceilings. This weekend we are going to be scrubbing the floors and cleaning them to prepare for stain and carpet. We're just a few short months away at most from moving in. I can't wait.

Tonight we are holding our annual business meeting. Time to give our reports and vote in some deacons to the ministry team. I'm so very thankful for the numerical and spiritual growth that we have seen this year in our student ministry and with the birth of our new college and career young adult ministry, "Ignitionlife". God is doing some awesome things and we're excited about it.

I hope you've had an awesome weekend as well and I'm praying that you'll have an even better week!

Green News!

Today I am excited to announce to you some incredible news about my book, "Green". I know that many of you have been faithfully following the editing process with us, and we really appreciate your interest and involvement. Today, we have received the official word that "Green" will be hitting stores across the nation on January 12th, 2010. Today we are launching the offical "Green" website at www.thebookgreen.com. Through our website, we are beginning to take pre-orders today! If you order the book directly from our website, not only will you receive a special autographed copy from me, but you will also have your copy of the book as early as the middle of October - more than two months before the book ever hits store bookshelves. So celebrate with us, check out the new website, leave us feed back and reserve your copy today. 

Book Review: Blue Like Play Dough

Hello everyone!  This is Kate Wardwell, Rodney's wife, I'll be guest blogging on his site this week as I've had the privilege to review this amazing book by author Tricia Goyer, entitled: Blue Like Play Dough.
In this book, Tricia does an amazing job of capturing the struggles that every mom, such as myself face at one time or another.  She writes beyond more than the diapers, runny noses, and nightmares.  She goes deeper to who we are as women, and to the past that shaped who we are today.  Her vulnerable description of her own upbringing is so tangible to the reader as she draws connections between her past and the current mother she is today.  So many of us as mothers tend to stuff away and hide our past and start over as we begin our own families, not realizing that the issues we dealt with as children will greatly affect our parenting today.  She so clearly admits " My biggest struggle as a young(er) mom had nothing to do with the kids.  Yes, diapers were a pain.  Potty training seemed hopeless.  And housework was, well, work.  But my nemisis was myself."   In reading this book, Tricia helped me to be reminded again that my perfection as a mother and wife are not of utmost importance to God, and what others think of me does not matter.  What matters is that I remember who I am before God, and allow Him to continue working in me as an individual, and my struggles as a wife and mother will melt away as God works in me. 

I would encourage all moms, of any age, to pick up a copy of this book and allow God to carve out in you not only the wife and mother He has called you to be, but the person He created you to be.

Blue Like Play Dough is available at www.amazon.com.

Update from the Dominican Republic

Hey everyone!  This is Kate =0)  Rodney just called me a bit ago to let me know how everything was going and asked that I give you all a quick update!  He said that yesterday, he and the kids were able to go to two different villages to visit people and hand out gifts.  One of the villages that they visited was home to our boys, Jeffery and Adonis, who Rodney has faithfully visited and brought gifts to for the last several years.  He said he had a great visit with them and that he and the kids were able to play basketball at the local school with some of the children.  Last night, they were able to attend a church service as well.
This afternoon, the group had the opportunity to do a youth rally for some of the teens in the area.  They said it was a great day of ministry.  They are looking forward to tomorrow when they will head to "Redemption Village", where Rodney has been several times, to minister.  Please keep them all in your prayers, and we will do our best to update you as we have the information!

A Great Day in the D.R.

Hey Everyone...we made it safely to the D.R. yesterday. We were a bit delayed in Miami, but we made it safely here around 3:45 p.m. central time. Last night was a great get to know you time. We met the other team from Indiana that is here working with us and all of the team leaders. Today we began our ministry by painting the classrooms at Colegio Vida which is a kingdergarden through 12th grade school. It was a great experience. The teens and I sweat like no other. We definately earned our beach time. After leaving the internet cafe we are going to have a de-briefing time together. It should be pretty awesome. Tomorrow we are going to have a block party in Bombita and we are going to have the opportunity to see my two boys, Jeffery and Adonis. I can't wait. I'll write more tomorrow. Thanks for following.

The Cover Design for Green

Many of you are asking the name of the book and what it is going to look like. Here is a low resolution look at what we have chosen for the front cover. The book is called, "Green: Youth Ministry Lessons I Have Learned the Hard Way." It's a book about the many different emotional aspects of youth ministry that I really had no clue to expect coming out of college. I'm really excited about it. We were going for a clean look and for something that would jump out at you while you were browsing the isle of a Barnes and Noble or a major Christian bookstore. It will be a matte finish and will be available in softback as well as both an e-book that you can download to your computer or notebook and an audio book (that you could down load to your iPod or burn to a CD to listen to while driving). At this moment the book is being approved as far as editing is concerned. The next step is for us to move straight into layout and marketing. Once I am able to view the layout and give the ok, then we will send the book off to print and begin pushing the book. As soon as I know anything about pre-orders I will be sure to update the blog and let you know. I can't wait to hold a copy of the book in my hands. I hope you are excited about it too. Thanks again for following along on this journey, and I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Book Review: Holy Roller

 This week I've had the opportunity to review an awesome book by Julie Lyons titled, "Holy Roller". The book cover's Julie's story as she was writing for the Dallas Times Herald. In her search through the ghettos and slums of south Dallas to find a church that was really making a difference in the lives of addicts, prostitutes, and gang bangers Julie stumbled across The Body of Christ Assembly, and she fell in love with the church. Not only did Lyon's story land on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald, but she and her husband fell in love with the church. Though the parishoners at the church are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality - that of "the Holy Ghost and fire."

As a Pentecostal believer myself, I can relate to many of the stories of powerful healings and transformations that Julie speaks about. This book is an inspiring book and an intriguing story about Julie's life that will draw you in and leave you struggling to put down the pages.

If you would like to pick up a copy of this book for yourself you can do so by going to www.amazon.com. I think that once you read this book, you'll be glad that you did.

Weekend Update

I know it's been a while since I have last updated my blog, but there are a few reasons why....here they are:

1. This past weekend I finished up two weeks of camp. It was a lot of fun and God really did some neat things in the hearts and lives of our kids.

2. It has been awesome to finally spend a week at home with the girls. Doing yard work, playing some softball games and swimming in the 100+ heat. However, Sunday around lunch time we will be saying goodbye again for about 10 days as I lead a team of teens and sponsors to the Dominican Republic. I can't wait to see Adonis and Jeffery (my little guys in the D.R.) and see what God is going to do to impact the lives of my Ignition teens. I have two guys that are going into the 8th grade this year who have never been on a missions trip. This should be really awesome.

AND I have to tell this story to brag on my teenagers. Wednesday night we had an amazingly low attendance. It's summer and with me being gone a lot, the Wednesday night schedule has really been anything but consistent. However, I really felt led of the Lord to take an offering for the D.R. trip on Wednesday night. Everyone knows that when you fly now, you have to pay for baggage to go with you, and we have some stuff to take with us for the kids of the D.R. The problem is, we didn't have any way to pay for it. So the Lord laid it on my heart to take up an offering for it. I was blown away...because I received $450 towards this project. It's going to be more than enough! God is good.

3. In my spare time (funny joke), I have been working on my book. We have just wrapped up the cover design, and I am about to finalize the editing. Next step will be to move on to the layout and marketing department. After we nail out the layout, we will start marketing the book and send the manuscript off to print. I'm getting extremely excited.

4. Speaking of extremely excited...I can't believe the arrival of my son is less than a month away. I can't wait. I have his Colts attire ready to go for the preseason as he cuddles with daddy and watches NFL Football this fall. It's going to be awesome to have a son.

5. We will be leading a team to Orlando on the 1st of August. Kierstyn will get her first chance to see the Princess' castle in person at Disney World. She's so excited now! We'll be home just shortly before Ryan's arrival. Exciting stuff.

Thanks for checking out the post. If you are ever thinking of us, please keep us in your prayers.

Book Review: Hero by Fred and Jasen Stoeker

About a year ago, I was taking a student of mine to Central Bible College to check out the campus and on that particular night we were blessed to find out that Fred Stoeker, author of "Every Man's Battle," was going to be sharing with the guys in the evening for a special session. I had heard some amazing things about Fred and his ministry, and since sitting under his ministry we have gone through his book, "Every Young Man's Battle" here at Ignition. However, one thing that I learned while sitting under Fred's ministry that night is that the guy you read about in the book, is the guy that Fred really is. He is passionate about the issues of purity and sexuality that he champions, and he speaks the truth from both God's word and from past experiences. Well, Fred and his son Jasen have since come out with a new book that I have had the opportunity over the past month to review. If you are a husband, soon will be, or even desire to be one some day - then "Hero: Becoming the Man She Desires" is a book that you need to buy, read and then keep in your library.

In "Hero," find out what makes a man an ultimate hero to women who are longing to find a man of faith. Explore what women love about men who stand by their convictions and make their world a safer and better place. I think you'll be amazed at how insightful this book really is. It would make a great Father's Day gift for all of those dad's out there this June 21st.

So check it out. You can find their incredible book and even purchase your own by clicking the following link below. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400071098&ref=externallink_mlt_hero_kef_0403_01

Late Night Update

I know that it has been forever since I have written my last post. I'm not sure where I should really start so why don't I just give it all to you shotgun style. Oh, and thanks again for reading this post and not giving up on me.

1. I guess the first piece of information should be to give God all of the glory for His protection thus far from the many storms that have hit here in the great OK. As you may know, we have been blessed to buy what we consider to be our dream home here in Enid. We live in a magnificent neighborhood (due to the people that is) amongst all of Kierstyn's school friends. It's awesome. AND two weeks after we moved in, a tornado hit Chisholm Creek Village where our house is nestled in the back corner of the sub-division. We did lose a privacy fence and for a 36 hour period our beloved doggy Deuce. However, the fence has been repaired and the prodigal son has returned home. On a serious note, God has been extremely good to us. Many homes in our neighborhood are still under repair and will be for months. I've never seen anything like this.

2. Kate is now in the middle of the third trimester of her pregnancy. She has about 12 weeks to go and we can't wait for Asher "Ryan" Wardwell to get here. The new nursery is painted, setup and ready to go. I have his little Peyton Manning jersey ready and awaiting him just in time for Pre-Season.

3. For all of the followers of my "still so very surreal book project"...things are moving forward in a quick fashion. I talked to the "conceptual editor" this past week on the phone and he's digging the book, which really is a load off. If I am following my sources at the publishing house correctly, what I hear them saying is that we are entering the final stages of editing. Next we'll be looking at design, layout and then print. It won't be long now. Since I last wrote, I have had the opportunity to build some very awesome friendships and some very cool people have given their nods via book endorsements. I also have an awesome youth ministry friend and mentor who has agreed to foreword the book. Everything is falling into place. Green: Lessons I Have Learned in Youth Ministry the Hard Way is literally just months away from impacting the youth ministry culture. I can't wait.

4. Today my little sweetie graduated from Pre-Kindergarten. I can't believe how time is flying. She received the "Most Expressive" award today during her ceremony. Anyone who knows KJ, knows how fitting this award really is. Last week we took her to see, Disney's: The Lion King the broadway musical that was in Oklahoma City, and there really has to be something said about being able to hear your child's laughter. It's so fufilling and I'm so blessed to have such a beautiful little girl.

5. Two weeks ago, we held an annual even that we call Rock the Night. We packed the house with over 110 students and 14 gave their lives to Christ. This week, many of the same students came back, and inspite of the Tornado Warnings we had another rocking night with lives changed with the message of life. God is really doing something at Ignition and I'm so excited about it. Our new Youth and Family Life Building is completely enclosed and work will begin in a few weeks on the inside of the structure. This 17,000 square foot facility is going to be an awesome place where teenagers can come and hangout, worship, and be discipled. I'm stoked about it.

6. This is an exciting time in our student ministry. Exciting for our students, and yet a little bittersweet for Kate and I. Tonight began the process of saying "goodbye" to some of our students who are graduating and moving on with their futures. This year is tough because we are honoring 8 graduates. I can't ever remember a time in my first eight years of youth ministry where I have graduated this many young people. AND it's challenging to watch 8 young men and women who we love with everything we have mature and prepare to leave for jobs, college and the military. It's going to be hard to let them go, but I believe that we have done everything we know to do to give them a good solid foundation on Christ to stand on as they enter the next level of their lives. We're proud of each one of you and we can't help but stand in the wings and cheer for you. You're going to do amazing!

7. We're garage selling this weekend. So far we're knocking it out of the park with kids clothing. I hope tomorrow is as good as today was.

8. AND now its time for bed. We have a huge weekend ahead of us, so I must crash. Let's catch up on Facebook, Twitter or Text. I'd love to hear from you. God bless and have a great weekend.